UPDATE 21!!!! Wish me luck! Prayers! Good vibes! Etc!

I have to check in early morning tomorrow at my birthing center for an induction. I got my second membrane sweep today as a last ditch effort but OB says since I've been in early labor since the 26th I'm getting pretty depleted.

Right when she started giving me instructions for tomorrow morning the flood gates opened and I lost it. I can't believe I'm meeting my daughter tomorrow This has been a very long 9 years of patiently waiting until I could give my son a sibling, I can't even grasp reality right now!

I'll take anything! Prayers, good vibes, hugs, you name it I need it. I have NO idea how I'm going to fall asleep tonight but I am soooo grateful to have you guys by my virtual side this entire time. I have to stop bawling!!!!

Lots of to you guys, I'll be around here today but if you don't see me for roll call tomorrow you will know why!!

SHE IS HERE!!! Adelaide Piper ~ 6 pounds 12 oz, 20 inches long. Can't remember her birth time off hand lol but it took about 13 hours I think...

So sorry I didn't update earlier and only have one photo so far to show you guys I'm beyond exhausted!!! Only slept for a few hours

Please know that there is a small trigger in this so if you are a nervous nelly use caution reading. Also, I may miss a few things out of sheer mommy brain!!

I woke up at 3am on the 4th to a massive panic/nervous attack and made a huge mistake. Went on Google! I googled the drug they were going to give me to induce labor, Cytotec (sp) Long story short I almost pulled out of the induction but after waking my DH up to research more with me we came to the conclusion that the drug was very similar to Pitocin in many ways and the huge concerns regarding this drug are mainly for people with previous Csections. Anyways, so I was distraught and then just completely nervous and that is no way to start a huge day! I even grilled a nurse via phone at 4am about her experience with patients and this drug, that did a lot to reassure me.

Anyways, talked to OB about my concerns and she was amazing enough to make a compromise with me and gave me half a pill to stick under my tongue when I got checked in and never gave me the rest of the dose but instead broke my water a few hours later. I was extremely grateful for her understanding! I never knew so much amniotic fluid could come gushing out of a person, hahaha.....it was awesome as well as a physical relief!!

Contractions started out the day at about 10 minutes and slowly worked toward 5 minutes. After my water broke they started to lag and we gave it a lot of time to progress. Finally OB decided to start a very small dose of Pitocin and warned me I may change my pain medicine free mind shortly but said she will be using positive speaking to help me cope (and she did as well as the nurses!! ...but that was literally in my birth plan, hahahaha)

Contractions started coming on every 2 minutes but would fade away! UGH so we ended up with it progressing to a much higher dosage. Adelaide was monitored all day, her heartbeat was PERFECT the entire time and never had any issues, soooo amazing!!

I used the birthing ball, walked SO much that I got blisters on my feet, took baths and used distraction methods. Every time a contraction happened my DH pushed with all his might on my lower back, I was having back labor so severly I thought I was going to split in two! I did not yell out however and tried to remain calm. I also kept saying down and out, LRBAK you were with me in spirit!!!

Ok this is getting long sorry! Cont were coming on ever 2 minutes, my pain threshold was depleted but I did not get any pain medication. Pitocin is a HARD drug to handle, I cant believe this was my second time at success in this scenerio. I did ask the nurse however if she had a stash of wine in the back! haha, she looked like she needed some as well!

Transition lasted about 20 minutes probably, that was the hardest, I felt like mentally and physically giving up but the realization that I couldn't was enough to kick my ass into gear.

All of a sudden I thought of you guys, dead serious!!! I started laughing a tad in all my pain and knew you guys would be smiling when I said what I said next. I looked over at my nurse and yelled at her hysterically 'I NEED TO POOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' I knew in my head that I need to push but after all this talk about poop on here meaning to push that was the only thing I could muster!!

Bright lights were turned on, the bed changed, OB rushed in, my Dh kissed me so sweetly and said 'It's almost time, she's almost here' I started crying, I was so elated and afraid all at once.

I had that massive urge to push again so they said to try it out. OMGoodness that damn ring of fire!!! In between pushes I looked at everyone and said very calmly 'Next time screw this, I'm getting an Epi!! Just don't tell anyone' They all started to laugh and my DH said I deserved it, haha

Less than 10 minutes of pushing and she came out, once she was crowned it took me about 3 pushes to get her completely out. Instant relief!!!!! I can't remember too much for a while after that except that I was hysterically bawling saying 'my baby, my baby, my precious baby, that's my daughter!!' and all of the sappy stuff you see on those stupid lifetime movies etc. I was a complete mess. She cried right away, got a little oxygen and was placed in my arms.

This is when I thought of you guys again, weird right? I kept mentally going over my head the birth announcements about the mom having all this time skin to skin with baby, breastfed the moment they arrived etc etc. All I could think of was I shouldn't be holding her, that I needed to make a sacrifice and let my DH hold her for at least the first 10 minutes. This is his first and he's never been around a child before like this and I thought this would help him bond with her more than anything, that HE needed that more than I did. Boy did he look elated, amazed, in love!!! Im so happy I made the individual choice to do that.

Anyways, on with the trigger FYI, we all know how the rest goes, we snuggle, we breastfeed, we call people we realize how tired we are and try to get some sleep, I really wanted her with me in the room so that was that. Well, she woke up to breastfeed, I burped her, put her back, about 30 minutes later she was fussing again and at first I was so tired that I kind of thought she would just sooth herself but instead I went to pick her up and she had a ton of very thick mucus coming from her mouth and nose, she was completely gagging and couldn't really breath!! I pressed the call light, took the aspirator and started sucking her and it didn't help too much. Nurse came in and said that Adelaide was indeed gagging and was not the right color at all. I asked her what she was going to do and she said to pump her stomach etc and I shouldn't come with. Screw that! I followed her to the nursery and saw her get tubed in the throat and suctioned out. It was amazing to see how much blood (from the delivery, normal) and super thick mucus was coming out! It was scary and fascinating all at once, of course I was petrified for her but apparently it's very common. I wanted to make sure you guys heard this part because I was so gung ho about keeping her in the room with me and now I'm happy she is currently in the nursery being monitored while I (well, tried) to sleep. If I had woken up later or ignored her fussing I don't even want to imagine what would have happened to her, from pink to ashy gray skintone in a short time really scares the shit out of a person. PLEASE, don't feel obligated to have your baby room with you, especially when you are exhausted, if you're breastfeeding just make it clear that the nurses need to bring LO back in so you can. Rooming is amazing but for me I've decided monitoring her with people who are trained and awake is now a must have.

Okay i'm super exhausted, I will post more photos very soon!! Thank you guys for everything, the love, the concern, the humor. This mom is going to go sleep some more but will be on hopefully soon with photo bombs and laughter!!!